Parents need to know that this bleak drama -- which depicts the total breakdown of society (including filth, squalor, graphic brutality, and sexual coercion) in the wake of a plague that leaves its victims blind -- isn't for kids. Several scenes depict the aftermath of the social collapse, including the absence of law and order, medical treatment, food and shelter, and more. There are also several sex scenes -- some of which are consensual, and some of which aren't -- and a good deal of strong language. Violence includes beatings, shootings, and much more.

Families can talk about the questions the film raises: What would happen if some catastrophic event shattered civilization? Would people come together in a time of crisis or fall apart? Families can also talk about Julianne Moore's character, who becomes a fierce protector to a small group of survivors -- and also grows as a person in her new role. Does crisis bring out the best in some people?

The good stuff

Messages: Extensive depiction of social breakdown in the wake of a disease that strikes its victims blind -- including riots, quarantine, and armed suppression of blind civilians. As the plague effects the entire populace, civilization descends into chaos, squalor, and filth. A group of quarantined victims set up a tyranny under rule of force, telling other inmates that they'll only receive food in exchange for their remaining valuables, and, later, sex. A man who was blind before the sickness assists this tyranny.

What to watch for

Violence: Beatings, shootings, stabbings, scuffling, fistfights, panicked pushing and shoving; nonconsensual sex with a high level of roughness. Several characters are shot on screen; a character commits suicide. Several characters die, trapped in a burning building that's been deliberately set on fire. Plane and car crashes shown in news footage. Government troops fire on unarmed, blind civilians.

Sex: Extensive sexual and nonsexual nudity (including both male and female full frontal, from a distance); a prostitute visits a client in a hotel room; consensual sexual activity on screen; sex is bartered for food in the aftermath of a devastating plague.

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